Food Stamps

By Walter Hamilton and Tiffany Hsu and Tribune Newspapers | November 5, 2013

U.S. food retailers are poised to take a hit as the federal government reduces its $78 billion-a-year food stamp program. Grocery stores and other food retailers have struggled in recent years as consumers battered by high unemployment and shrinking wages switched from upscale products to discounted bulk goods and generic brands. Food sales, especially at discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., could be further crimped by the $5 billion, or roughly 6 percent, annual cut in food stamps that took effect Friday.

The gaps between the Peninsula's poorest and richest neighborhoods are wide, and getting wider. They are gaps in income - and in the share of income available to save for the future, in access to jobs, health care and even groceries, a Daily Press review of Census and other data shows. They are gaps, too, in hope. "This is a rough place," said Orlando Covington, who grew up at 33rd and Chestnut and now ekes out his food stamps at the weekly soup kitchen at the Newport News Farmers Market, as well as with meals that some of the Southeast Community's churches offer.

A heartless decision The U.S. Census just reported that 46 million Americans were living in poverty in 2012, including 16 million children. For millions of low-income families, even putting food on the table is a daily struggle. That's why I cannot believe that the House of Representatives would make matters worse for them by gutting the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps). Shame on them. In 2012, SNAP lifted 4 million people out of poverty. Despite very modest benefits (less than $5 per day)

Responsible choices The young and apparently healthy need health insurance as much or more than their parents and older loved ones. While they may feel invulnerable presently, they are not. Young drivers have proportionately more accidents than their elders. They indulge in more risky behaviors than older more settled people. They are as prone to infectious disease as others. They may think that they will not need insurance...but what if they are wrong? No loving parent or grandparent can stand aside and watch their son or daughter die. Where is the money going to come from if not from the savings and retirement investments of the loving family?

NEWPORT NEWS — A Newport News woman who pleaded guilty to welfare fraud earlier this month has been given a five-year suspended sentence and ordered to reimburse the government $10,311. Anne Michelle Frost, 41, of the 600 block of Sun Court, was found to have submitted false applications for food stamps by misstating who was living in the family's home, according to a press release from the city's Department of Human Services. That is, Frost left out of the application that her employed husband was living in the home, the release said.

The wait for food stamps at Marshall Court housing complex was shorter Thursday afternoon than Wednesday, but there was disagreement over how long recipients had to wait. A food stamp recipient, who declined to give her name, said she had waited for two hours in the morning without getting her coupons. She said she returned in the afternoon and received them after waiting only a half-hour. But the manager of the office, Iretha D. Tolliver, said she was not aware of anyone having to wait two hours in the morning.

More than 760 people converged on the city's Department of Human Services offices in the former Rouse Tower, wondering what happened to their food stamps. Most were there Monday because they had not updated their information as requested by the state, but many had submitted their forms, only to find their federal food assistance was suspended because the department had not yet processed the reports. Kim Lee, spokeswoman for the city of Newport News, said the backlog was created by a combination of factors.

The leader of a gang that traded cocaine for food stamps faces life in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Tuesday to conspiracy, drug distribution and illegal use of food stamp. Lazaro T. Sotolongo, 38, a Cuban refugee, was arrested in August after undercover agents bought $30,000 worth of crack cocaine from the gang, including purchases made at the Pine Chapel apartments in Hampton. Sotolongo stood with his head bowed, as an interpreter translated U.S. District Judge Rebecca B. Smith's questions into Spanish.

Police say they've busted a drug ring that sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer in exchange for $30,000 in food stamps, including sales at Pine Chapel apartments. "We are assuming that a good portion of legitimate food stamp recipients in this area were taking their food stamps and rather than feeding their families were going and trading them with this organization for crack cocaine," said Kim R. Widup, supervisory special agent for the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which manages the nation's food stamp program.

After waiting 30 minutes in the blustery cold Wednesday morning to get her food stamps, Barbara Sutphin gave up because her abscessed tooth hurt so bad. But having two kids to feed, she was back on line in the afternoon, shivering and clutching her jaw with an ungloved hand. "If you don't get them today, you gotta wait a week," she explained, while standing in a line that snaked from the Marshall Courts Management Office at 741 34th St. in the East End with 75 other chilled food stamp recipients.

By Walter Hamilton and Tiffany Hsu and Tribune Newspapers | November 5, 2013

U.S. food retailers are poised to take a hit as the federal government reduces its $78 billion-a-year food stamp program. Grocery stores and other food retailers have struggled in recent years as consumers battered by high unemployment and shrinking wages switched from upscale products to discounted bulk goods and generic brands. Food sales, especially at discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., could be further crimped by the $5 billion, or roughly 6 percent, annual cut in food stamps that took effect Friday.

A heartless decision The U.S. Census just reported that 46 million Americans were living in poverty in 2012, including 16 million children. For millions of low-income families, even putting food on the table is a daily struggle. That's why I cannot believe that the House of Representatives would make matters worse for them by gutting the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps). Shame on them. In 2012, SNAP lifted 4 million people out of poverty. Despite very modest benefits (less than $5 per day)

NEWPORT NEWS — A Newport News woman who pleaded guilty to welfare fraud earlier this month has been given a five-year suspended sentence and ordered to reimburse the government $10,311. Anne Michelle Frost, 41, of the 600 block of Sun Court, was found to have submitted false applications for food stamps by misstating who was living in the family's home, according to a press release from the city's Department of Human Services. That is, Frost left out of the application that her employed husband was living in the home, the release said.

I've been reading about all of these Black Friday events and some stores even opening early on Thanksgiving Day to promote sales. Many people have referred to this as corporate greed. But remember, our president said one of his campaign promises was to put people back to work. If the federal government functioned as efficiently as for-profit corporations, we not only could prosper from efficient federal agencies, but we wouldn't be paying people to take days off from work. These federal employees don't want to be forced into the 47percent of "takers.

Better off? No! Re: "Yes, I'm Better Off" by D.A. Willard. As I read Mr. Willard's Oct 20 Letter to the Editor, I thought he was living in an alternative universe. In Oct 2008 the economy was where it was because of the housing market collapse. That happened because of the Community Reinvestment Act initiated by President Carter, expanded by President Clinton and protected by Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd and a Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2007 and 2008.

State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, told a conservative talk radio show Friday that racism is a subtle factor used against President Barack Obama by his Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race and that there needs to be a "national discussion on racial issues. " Lucas told conservative talk-show host John Fredericks, who hosts "The John Fredericks Show" on WHKT 1650 AM, that the GOP candidate is "speaking to a segment of the population who does not like to see people other than a white man in the White House or any other elected position.

A rise in the use of food stamps as an "underground currency" to buy everything from guns and drugs to cars and houses is forcing federal authorities to look at new ways to distribute the $13 billion a year spent nationally to feed the needy, they say. Use of a credit card system that would replace the use of paper coupons for distribution of food credits is being experimented with by the USDA. Called Electronic Benefit Transfer, the system eventually could replace the paper system, officials said.

Blame misdirected Re: Steven Duke's Sept. 9 letter, "Intended use. " This [writer's] complaint is that while he was at a local wholesale club he noticed an individual buy a two-liter bottle of soft drink and a birthday cake while using the EBT card (food stamps). Mr. Duke implies that this individual did something wrong by buying these items (probably for a child's birthday). Would you rather this individual tell his or her child that on this special day they cannot have a piece of cake and a glass of soda?

For York County's Darren Simons, simply doing the right thing touched off a chain of events that changed his life for the better. Now, he's ready to share the love. On Saturday, he'll host Play It Forward, a benefit concert intended to express his gratitude to a generous community. It will feature performances from Simons' own bands as well as appearances by Pete Hansen, Evening Violet, Bryan Forrest and a band from the Academy of Rock Music. "I made a promise," Simons recalls.